Gender and Justice Commission

1998 Annual Report

Authority
The Gender and Justice Commission was established by Washington State Supreme Court Order No. 25700-B-256, February 3, 1994. It was amended June 29, 1994, No. 25700-B-271 and renewed for another three years on July 10, 1997, No. 25700-B-333.

Principal Activities in 1998
The 15 member Gender and Justice Commission meets five times annually. During 1998, the Commission focused on the following projects:

Domestic Violence Workshops for State Rural and Tribal Court Judges
The Commission received a $110,603 Federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) grant to develop and implement a training program on domestic violence for rural and tribal court judges in Washington State. A planning committee adapted the curriculum from the national model judicial education program Domestic Violence Cases in the Civil Courts and began work on new chapters on rural court and tribal court issues for the Domestic Violence Manual for Judges. Workshops were held in Clallam, Garfield, Pacific, Okanogan, and Yakima Counties in 1998. A second grant of $98,616 was received to finalize the chapters on rural and tribal court issues, to put the benchbook on audio tape and to make presentations at tribal and state court judges' conferences in 2000. An additional workshop, funded by the Commission, will be held in Bellingham in 1999.

Family Law Research
The Gender and Justice and Domestic Relations Commission developed a research proposal to evaluate the Washington State Parenting Plan. Dr. Diane Lye, an independent researcher who has focused on recent changes in family life and gender relations, is using four methodologies to study the formulation, negotiation, and implementation of parenting plans by divorcing couples:

South King County Domestic Violence Summit
The Auburn Domestic Violence Task Force, Green River Community College Women's Programs, and the Commission conducted the South King County Domestic Violence Summit on March 24-25, 1998. Almost 200 people attended the Summit at the Community College to learn how to improve their community response to domestic violence.

Kitsap County Domestic Violence Summit - Reunion
One year after the Commission sponsored the Domestic Violence Summit, the Kitsap County Domestic Violence Task Force held a reunion to evaluate its progress.

Planning for a Local Domestic Violence Summit: Organizing a Community Response
The Commission produced the manual Planning for a Local Domestic Violence Summit: Organizing a Community Response to encourage efforts to hold summits in other counties. Copies are available to interested parties. Judge James Riehl, chair of the Kitsap County Domestic Violence Summit, described the program to the American Bar Association and distributed the manual at the National Judicial College to judges attending a leadership program.

Domestic Violence Manual for Judges
The Commission continues to provide all new Washington State judges and commissioners copies of the Domestic Violence Manual for Judges.

YMCA Youth and Government Mock Trial Program
Seventeen Washington State high school teams competed in the YMCA Youth and Government Mock Trial State championships in March 1998. Development of the mock trial script, which focused on a domestic violence case, was funded by the Gender and Justice Commission.

NAWJ District 13, Gender Bias Network
The Commission continues to staff the quarterly conference calls of Northwest Region, Gender Fairness organizations. For five years, representatives of Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington have shared status reports and other resource materials.